Thursday, May 24, 2007

Tolentino: Will Leave Politics

By Boy Ryan B. Zabal


After a lopsided defeat from vice governor-elect and former Aklan congresswoman Gabrielle V. Calizo (Nacionalista Party), lawyer-journalist Ronquillo "Kel" Conanan Tolentino (Lakas-CMD) is retiring from politics.
Tolentino said, he had decided to leave politics for good and would pursue his public service as lawyer-journalist.
"All what I have done was service to humanity, a genuine public service. In the next years to come, through media as a journalist, I could still deliver services to our people," he stressed.
Tolentino, a three-termer Sangguniang Pan-lalawigan member, had been an Assistant provincial secretary, provincial manager of the Bureau of Employment Services, Ministry of Labor in Aklan and former Kalibo Sang-guniang Bayan member.
He is a seasoned columnist of a regional newspaper, an alumnus of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines and the former secretary-general of the National Union of Students of the Philippines for Western Visayas.
In 2004, he was elected vice governor of Aklan under the ruling local coalition Tibyog Akean. He lost his reelection bid to Calizo on the May 14 election.
Calizo got 109,097 votes as compared to Tolentino’s 71,508, a margin of 37,589 votes. He lost in 16 towns, but won in Ibajay.
As presiding officer of the Sangguniang Pan-lalawigan for 2004–2007, Tolentino was instrumental in the passage of landmark ordinances, including the Economic Enterprise Development Department.The 63-year-old veteran journalist is also thinking to return to the academe as a professor of law. Tolentino will continue his works in socio-civic organizations like the Philippine National Red Cross, Aklan Press Club and the Boy Scouts of the Philippines. /MP

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